1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wheel motor which is adapted for use in vehicles such as electric vehicles, fork lift trucks, and golf carts, and more particularly to a wheel motor which has an electric motor drivingly connected to a wheel through a gear reducer.
2. Prior Art
Wheel motors of this kind, which are equipped with gear reducers, specially require that an electric motor and a reduction gear should be mounted so as not to interfere with the body of a vehicle on which the wheel motor is mounted, when wheels of the vehicle move upward and downward or when they are turning. To meet such a requirement, wheel motors have been proposed, e.g. by Japanese Provisional Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2-11419 and Japanese Provisional Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 4-185207, which are constructed such that an electric motor and an epicycle reduction gear are arranged in a central space defined by an inner periphery of a wheel, wherein a rotative driving force from the electric motor is transmitted through the reduction gear to the wheel to rotatively drive the same.
However, these conventional wheel motors include a control circuit for driving the electric motor, which is mounted at a frame of the vehicle body on which the wheel motor is mounted, which requires provision of a space for accommodating the control circuit, on the frame side. In addition, it requires arranging many electric lines such as feeder lines and signal lines extending between the vehicle body frame and the wheel motor to connect between the control circuit and the electric motor, which also results in increased lengths of these electric lines.
Moreover, the feeder lines and the signal lines are located at low locations between the wheel and the vehicle body frame and hence can be placed under bad environmental conditions. Therefore, it is very difficult to take measures to protect them against rainwater, mud, etc.